OK, we’ve gotten some questions about this benefit. People asking, Who are the Rockaways? It’s not who; it’s where. The Rockaways are a section of New York that was just creamed by Superstorm Sandy. People who live there are a long way from getting back to normal and need help (see articles here and here). One of my heroes, physicist Richard Feynman, was born in Far Rockaway. Among other discoveries, Feynman figured out what caused the Challenger Space Shuttle to crash. Check out this video for a great story of how he reluctantly agreed to join the Commission investigating the Challenger disaster and what happened next:

Speaking of videos, we’ve got some new ones on gimmesound – and we now feature them more prominently on the Home Page. If you’ve got a music video you think we should feature, leave a comment and let us know.

We may be somewhat old-fashioned, but we still listen to CDs for 3 major reasons:

We prefer the superior sound quality

We have a lot of them that we bought before MP3s were available

The only iPod in our house belongs to John (I can’t stand putting anything in my ear!)

But when Vickie had to jump on a plane to Iowa suddenly last Saturday to deal with a family emergency, she felt the need to bring a taste of Gloucester with her. So she ripped our copy of Chelsea Berry‘s CD Live in the Moment (one of Vickie’s favorites) and put it in our cloud (the Amazon cloud, that is) so she could listen to it on the plane and while in Iowa — along with lots of other music from Gloucester (see list below) and elsewhere that is already stored there.

Although we’re fans of the Joey Approved Product series, those of you who read our posts regularly know that we’ve never even mentioned a product or service that we use — until now. This is different. Why? Because the cloud is changing the way we buy, store and listen to our music more than any other technology since Edison invented the phonograph.

Here’s why we like the Amazon Cloud Service:

We can access our music using devices we already own, including our desktop PCs, laptop, droid phones and John’s Kindle Fire.

It’s free. Amazon has a free cloud player for the phone and a free interface for the PC. There is a a limit to the amount of music you can store for free, but we haven’t hit that limit (remember, we still listen to CDs a lot) and music we buy from Amazon (mostly for John) doesn’t count toward that limit.

All music we buy from Amazon automatically shows up in the cloud and is IMMEDIATELY accessible on all of our devices. Here’s an example. John and I are big Bruce Springsteen fans — and Vickie knows that. On the day Wrecking Ball came out, she was sitting on the couch with John’s Kindle fire and said, “I just got it.” (Wrecking Ball, that is) at which point, I plugged my phone into the stereo (because I don’t put anything in my ear) and began playing it!

All of us in the family can play all of the music at any time without restriction. For example, while Vickie’s in Iowa, she can play Chelsea’s I Wonder on her phone or her mother’s computer while John plays the same song on his Kindle Fire and I play that same song on my phone hooked up to the stereo (because I don’t put anything in my ear) — all at the same time.

It’s easy to rip our CDs and add them to the cloud (it took Vickie only a couple of minutes to add Chelsea’s CD to our cloud before we took her to the airport).

Some of you may know that I’ve made a number of predictions that have come to pass relative to the Internet, music, etc. (for example, in 1998 I predicted that by 2003 every business will either have a website or wish they did). Here’s another one: By 2020, the most common way to listen to recorded music will be to access it from a cloud server.

And here’s a partial list of local artists, whose music Vickie is playing for her family in Iowa from our cloud (in alpha order by artist last name or band name):

Gloucester Webcam

The GloucesterCast Podcast

Free GMG Gloucester Sticker

As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)

Free GMG Gloucester Sticker

As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)